14 DAY TRIAL // Hockney, East London is now home to a first-of-its-king shop and cafe & bar that asks customers to bring their own containers and bags when wishing to refill their groceries, simply because they sell neither of the two.
Up until this December, Unpackaged was based in Islington, yet its founder's starting a collaboration with local chef Kate de Syllas made it possible for the shop to be moved to a bigger and more appealing premises.
Thanks to the extra space added to the store, Unpackaged also got a cafe & bar on its working agenda.
Catherine Conway, the person who founded Unpackaged back in 2006, believes that shopping can and should be as environmentally-friendly as possible, and cutting down on the amounts of wrappings that end up in landfills on a regular basis is the perfect way to achieve this.
As explained on the official website for Unpackaged, “We believe that a lot of packaging is unnecessary so we’ve removed it; just bring your own containers and reuse them each time you shop.”
It is Catherine Conway's belief that her selling unpackaged groceries also allows people to only buy the amounts they need and want, which means that customers also end up saving considerable amounts of money.
“Bring anything you like, there’s nothing to date that we haven’t been able to refill (even our lovely friend who likes putting lentils in old water bottles!),” Unpackaged says.
Furthermore, “Bring glass jars, tupperware, old takeaway cartons, brown paper bags, plastic bags, old packaging.. if it’s heavy, we’ll weigh it first, if it’s light then just refill and we’ll weigh at the end.”
In case anyone was wondering about the environmental impact of the cafe & bar opened next to this shop, it seems that the cups used to serve customers in this location are biodegradable.